Sony: "Nintendo DS is for kiddies!"

[passerby]

Yes, he actually said "kiddies"! (Actually he said "okochama", which is a more familiar and brusque version of "okosama," a polite way of referring to someone's children.)

Will I cause tremendous amounts of embarresment to some of the people who have replied to the thread? What is happening on the other message boards now?

I must start by saying I have nothing against hey69. We all make a few mistakes here and there with a foreign language.

But if this is taking off on the other message boards, this needs to be classified as one of the finest examples of the clueless foreigner and useless news of the internet.

The statement that I quoted - see that? Simple and short - NO.

Chama is in short:

A combination of sorts of the two honorifics "Sama" and "Chan", "Chama" is used to refer to somebody who is considered a young master, typically a male.

Suffixes can also be combined in a more or less humoristical manner, like "-chama" (chan + sama), as in "obaa-chama" for "grand-mother", which is both affectionate and respectful.

Just for fun:

The Japanese believe that until the age of three, children, whether Japanese or not, are gods, each one an okosama, or "lord child."

Okosama is overkill. It cannot be used in just any context. The guy would have sounded really weird if he used that honorfic then.

If he really wanted to mean 'children' in a polite but degradatory manner, I must say that my Japanese vocabulary must be better than his, since I could think of better words to use. But in this case, he even bothered to start with 'o' and end with 'chama'.

If we are just to make deductions just by those words, I'll say that he was trying to explain that PSP and NDS will appeal to diifferent demographics. However, it would be inappropriate if he just said '...first purchasers of NDS will be children'. That is obviously very rude - not to the children, but to Nintendo! To not do that, he made the extra effort of refering to the children with a respectful honorific and project the impression that the statement is not degradetory.

Otherwise, he could have easily stopped at kodomotachi instead of going to the bother of saying okochama instead.[

 

[one]

If he really wanted to mean 'children' in a polite but degradatory manner, I must say that my Japanese vocabulary must be better than his, since I could think of better words to use. But in this case, he even bothered to start with 'o' and end with 'chama'.

It's the exact place where mockery reside in... 'chama' is baby talk of 'sama'. Even 'okosama' can be taken as mockery in some context, but 'chama' finishes it. Especially when he calls 'adults' just 'adults'.
It's like calling those precious children customers of Nintendo who rush to DS, 'puppy'.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

Nintendo IS kiddy. Nintendo even says so. The only people who can't admit this are fanboys. That doesn't change the fact that they make some damn good games and know how to make mass-market handhelds like no one else.

PSP has a chance of success against DS, only because it's so cool, but with the battery life it supposedly has right now it will likely be a failure. They have to do something about battery life if they want to beat DS.

The PSP has about as much chance at beating the DS as Xbox had of beating PS2. Nevertheless, they can probably make PSP viable over the long term and use it like the stepping stone Xbox is for MS in the console space.

 

[thop]

Nintendo IS kiddy. Nintendo even says so. The only people who can't admit this are insecure fanboys. That doesn't change the fact that they make some damn good games and know how to make mass-market handhelds like no one else.

Now it sounds about right

 

[Teasy]

Johnny, you're really on a roll ATM. I mean... "Nintendo IS kiddy"? What does that even mean?

I think you've got things mixed up. Only insecure fan-boys say things like "Nintendo is teh kiddy".

 

[jvd]

Nintendo may be kiddy , who am i to say what they are ? All i know is my self , my father , my uncle , my little cousin all love to play nintendo games and so if they are kiddy games they are kiddy games that apeal to the kids inside all of us.

 

[Teasy]

Exactly Nintendo produce games that apeal to everyone. Very few of there games apeal to only certain ages. Pokemon and Eternal Darkness being two of those (at either end of the age scale).

rabidrabbit

Instant messaging by SMS or web is a little different than "instant messaging" by Nintendo DS. You don't need to gather the people you want to message together around the WiFi's reach for starters Can you imagine a 20 year old calling his mates to come to the local shopping mall so they can "picto chat" together

Erm, WiFi works over the net.. as does pictochat. So your wrong there

 

[Squeak]

Nintendo IS kiddy. Nintendo even says so. The only people who can't admit this are fanboys. That doesn't change the fact that they make some damn good games and know how to make mass-market handhelds like no one else.

Nintendo creates games for humans. Not games for a single one-track-minded demographic.
Of course style is a matter of subjective opinion, but I find Nintendos style(s) much more neutral and balanced (not as in “middle-of-the-road boringâ€￾ neutral, but as in “touching feelings and sensibilities all humans shareâ€￾ neutral ), than just about any other videogame developers.
Tell me, where are all those "mature" and "grownup" games?
Name me one.

 

[rabidrabbit]

rabidrabbit

Instant messaging by SMS or web is a little different than "instant messaging" by Nintendo DS. You don't need to gather the people you want to message together around the WiFi's reach for starters Can you imagine a 20 year old calling his mates to come to the local shopping mall so they can "picto chat" together

Erm, WiFi works over the net.. as does pictochat. So your wrong there

What? That doesn't change anything. Either you must be on a WiFi hotspot, or at home where you have WiFi.
It's not exactly "instant" if the other person is nowhere near WiFi.

Still, I am under the impression that the picto chat and other DS wireless apps would work only between DS's.
Or if you want to download those game demos that was said would be possible, it would need to connect to some dedicated Nintendo server.
I don't remember if there has been any talk of such thing, or did they mean that for example the game demo downloads would be possible only on certain places where such a WiFi hotspot has been built, a sort of like "demo kiosk" or something.

Chatting over WiFI for example to a person on the other side of the world would require that the traffic goes via some service on the net, wouldn't it?
I don't know, maybe it is possible, if so that's good.

 

[hey69]

I must start by saying I have nothing against hey69. We all make a few mistakes here and there with a foreign language

passerby, with all da respect and so.. but you really think I translated that?

i know 5 languages but japanese or whatever oriental language is not one of these... :?

anyway..

nintendo is NOT for Da kiddies!
here is the proof!

londonboy, is that you ?

 

[Johnny Awesome]

Nintendo says they make their games for kids all the time. Why can't Nintendo fans accept this? It's really strange. Nintendo targets demographics for their products just like every other consumer company. There's no need to take it personally. I still believe you guys are mature even though you play kiddy Nintendo games. I play them too.

 

[marconelly!]

Tell me, where are all those mature and grownup games?
Name me one.

Here's couple:

Grim Fandango, Sam & Max Hit the Road, Ico, Rez.

From the purely non-gameplay observational point, Nintendo games (at least some of them) have lovable visual design and themes, but lack in the quality of storytelling and the character strength and development, which are some of the things I look at when considering whether I'd say the game is 'mature' or not.

 

[thop]

The general definition of mature is "blood, lots of weapons, dark" though Among kids at least. You are actually talking about games that are more sophisticated in one way or another (humor, story, style, ...), beyond what kids might like or grasp. I think you can add Killer7 to your list soon.

I believe some Nintendo games are quite sophisticated as well, just in a different way and in a generally happier world

 

[passerby]

If he really wanted to mean 'children' in a polite but degradatory manner, I must say that my Japanese vocabulary must be better than his, since I could think of better words to use. But in this case, he even bothered to start with 'o' and end with 'chama'.

It's the exact place where mockery reside in... 'chama' is baby talk of 'sama'. Even 'okosama' can be taken as mockery in some context, but 'chama' finishes it. Especially when he calls 'adults' just 'adults'.
It's like calling those precious children customers of Nintendo who rush to DS, 'puppy'.

He would have sounded even weirder if he refered to 'adult' in that sentence with a honorific like 'sama' or some such. I believe I understand the confusion now. In many instances okochama is used to refer to the very young. Okochama goes both ways. My apologies to hey69.

It can be an insult - 'you are a childish kid' or not - 'the children'. So whether that is an insult or not... hey, where's maskrider?!

 

[a4164]

I do not know when it is that this happened, but in the context of today:

Nintendo is for the kiddies = you are a f'ing loser because you play childish Nintendo games.

Nintendo makes fun games, sometimes great games. End of story. It is definitely the insecure individual that can not embrace a game that is fun because they think it is "kiddie". Or to quote the duo at Penny Arcade, "a game with colors in it".

http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2001-12-14&res=l

 

[Readykilowatt]

http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2001/20011214l.gif

 

[Legion]

According to Nintendo themselves, the DS is aimed to a younger audience, was it 15-20 year olds? Whereas the PSP is aimed at 20 and above.
They must be 'kiddies' in the eyes of Matusaka Sakeki guy. Hell, even I'd call a 15 year old a kiddie, and I'm not that old

I guess those who are insulted by that comment are the "adults" that are thinking of buying a DS, as that makes them feel like they are thought of as "kiddy"... hey, there's nothing shameful to be juvenile! It's just ok to play with DS even if you're not a kid!

how old are you?

 

[London Geezer]

According to Nintendo themselves, the DS is aimed to a younger audience, was it 15-20 year olds? Whereas the PSP is aimed at 20 and above.
They must be 'kiddies' in the eyes of Matusaka Sakeki guy. Hell, even I'd call a 15 year old a kiddie, and I'm not that old

I guess those who are insulted by that comment are the "adults" that are thinking of buying a DS, as that makes them feel like they are thought of as "kiddy"... hey, there's nothing shameful to be juvenile! It's just ok to play with DS even if you're not a kid!

how old are you?

He's old enough

 

[rabidrabbit]

"Old enough" coming from a twink makes it sound like... like something too old, which I'm not

 

[London Geezer]

"Old enough" coming from a twink makes it sound like... like something too old, which I'm not

You're older than many peole around here




/LB walking a very very thin line here...